Howard Stern‘s run on SiriusXM has come to an end after 20 years.
Last month, amid a spate of rumors and speculation that Stern’s SiriusXM deal was not being renewed, Stern gleefully turned the chatter into a tune-in promo. His show told listeners he would address the topic on the Sept. 2 episode of “The Howard Stern Show”; however, last week, he postponed the reveal until Sept. 8 — indicating that a deal was not yet done.
On Monday morning, on Stern’s Channel 100 on SiriusXM, it wasn’t Stern who came on the air — it was Andy Cohen who introduced himself and said that the channel going forward will now be known as “Andy 100.”
“I know you’re expecting a big announcement from Howard, and this is not how things were meant to go,” Cohen said. “This was supposed to be a cleaner hand off — I’m kind of winging it,” he continued, saying that it has been a “surreal morning here.”
Added Cohen, “I can’t possibly fill his void” and said he was confident Stern would land on another platform soon.
Stern, who is 71, first signed with satellite radio broadcaster Sirius in 2004 (prior to its merger with XM), in part to be free of oversight by the FCC, which had levied millions of dollars in fines on terrestrial radio stations that carried his show for alleged indecency. “The Howard Stern Show” debuted on Sirius in January 2006. His most recent five-year renewal with SiriusXM was inked in 2020.
Last week, SiriusXM execs acknowledged that talks with Stern were ongoing but that they hoped to ink a new deal. “I think he’s been core to our platform for over 20 years, so I’m confident we’ll get to the right place,” SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz said Sept. 3 at an investment conference.
Stern’s original deal with Sirius was worth $500 million over five years including stock. His more recent renewals “topped out at roughly $80 million to $100 million,” according to Bloomberg. Regarding a Bloomberg report in 2020 that Stern was nearing a deal with SiriusXM worth $120 million annually, Stern said on his show at the time that he and his agent were “kind of baffled by it.”
Over the years, the notoriously ribald Stern has interviewed hundreds of actors, comedians, music artists, athletes, politicians and more on his show. At his side for most of his career have been co-host Robin Quivers, write Fred Norris and producer Gary “Baba Booey” Dell’Abate.
variety.com
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